The seminar will be held in English.

The Hamburg Political Science Seminar Series (HPS³) features international speakers presenting cutting-edge research in all subfields of political science and political economy.

We welcome on Wednesday, June 03, 2026 - 17:15-18:45 CET in Phil E - Von-Melle-Park 6

Anthony Lang (​Professor of International Political Theory. School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, Scotland)

as critical discussant in the presentation of two new Oxford Handbooks by members of the Faculty:
​

The Oxford Handbook of Norms Research in International Relations, edited by Sassan Gholigha, Phil Orchard and Antje Wiener, OUP 2025

Norms research in International Relations (IR) has developed sufficiently over the past 35 years to become its own subdiscipline within the field. It has its own corresponding ‘toolbox’ of concepts, approaches, and methods, which have often resulted from debates representing distinct perspectives on how norms matter for IR as a field and for global IR more generally. Even so, three groups of enduring questions continue to sit at the heart of norms research: first, the processes by which norms emerge, change, or disappear, on the one hand, and by which they are contested, violated, diffused, or replaced, on the other; second, the agency of actors at sites on the macro-, meso-, and micro-scales of global order, and who engages with these processes; and, third, the embeddedness or interaction of norms with other pre-existing norms and structures, such as the prevailing rules of engagement and clusters of normative meaning. The Oxford Handbook of Norms Research in International Relations provides a state-of-the-art overview of past, current, and future norms research in IR. It provides a comprehensive overview of the toolbox that has developed during this time, mapping the field’s development based on key conceptual milestones, notable theoretical moves, and developments with regard to the field’s contribution to social science theory development, on the one hand, and politics and policymaking in world politics, on the other.

The Oxford Handbook of Constituent Power, edited by Peter Niesen, Markus Patberg and Lucia Rubinelli, OUP 2026

This volume examines a key notion in political and constitutional theory. Constituent power denotes the capacity and authority to make (democratic) constitutions. The concept plays a key role both in real-world processes of constitution-making and constitutional transformation and in their scholarly analyses. The handbook brings together leading scholars across political theory, philosophy, intellectual history, and law to explore the political, constitutional, and normative relevance of the concept of constituent power. Covering its origins and history in Western and non-Western political thought and leading up to present authors, the volume investigates its conceptual neighbourhood, its applications to different types of polities (both intra-state and supra-state), its agents and practices of exercise, and its recent developments.

The HPS³ seminars take place in person at the UHH. Please find the preliminary program (pdf) on the HPS³ Website.

We invite everyone interested to attend the HPS Seminar Series and are looking forward to seeing you. No prior registration is needed.